I’m not even stepping into this until I was specifically called and in order to back up fraulein-jules and bluehaafu, who are black. But as someone half-white with a Japanese citizen father who spent part of my early life in Japan, I can agree.
Half-white Japanese in Japan do well in some fields if they have a certain look, because global white privilege is huge and real in Japan, and linked with colorism, especially for women. It’s not as important for men to be pale, but it’s very important for women. But half-white Japanese still face prejudice, especially if they don’t have that look. They’re not looked at as white nor as “fully Japanese” by many Japanese. Even full ethnic Japanese who grew up outside Japan face prejudice for not being fully Japanese. Japan has a fairly unique situation with diaspora where a lot of the people who left Japan in the early 20th century ended up in poorer countries than Japan became.
African-Americans face anti-blackness and colorism in Japan (which is also global and I’m not denying it in any way) but because it takes a slightly different form in Japan, Black Americans are treated better than Black Africans, to the point where Africans desperate for better treatment will fake being American. I’ve noticed this myself and have also read Black bloggers in Japan talking about it.
American military personnel stationed in Okinawa of whatever race including Asian have privileges over Japanese and Okinawan locals (they’re an occupying force) and often abuse those privileges heavily.
Koreans are… you know what, it’s too complicated. I’m probably going to get a lot of shit for writing this whole thing up and I’m not even going to go there, other than that we have a close but very troubled relationship, and many Korean-Japanese are treated incredibly poorly, and are the main targets of Japanese fascists. Not black people, definitely not white people. Korean-Japanese.
SE Asians are often very discriminated against, stereotyped as poor, subject to colorism, exactly like fraulein-jules says. If Miss Universe was part Malaysian or part Filipina and darker-skinned, she’d also be in for a world of hurt.
I hate having to say this over and over again but here it is in short form:
there is white privilege in Japan and there is anti-blackness in Japan, it’s just not exactly the same as in the US. The racial hierarchy is different.
Many Japanese are very prejudiced and racist and some are even fascist
Many Japanese hate prejudice and racists, hate white privilege, and actively work for Japan to be better, because Japan is a diverse and ever-changing and often-squabbling country of 80 million people, contrary to the impression of us as ahistoric robots.
The idea that East Asians can be diverse is too hard for some USians to grasp, especially when these people can’t even wrap their heads around the idea that Japanese and Koreans are different. Whatever race you are, when it comes to antiblackness in East Asia, PLEASE LISTEN TO BLACK EAST ASIAN PEOPLE. They’re the people most affected by it. They understand it the best. Don’t listen to white people, don’t listen to some random weeaboo or koreaboo (not addressing people upwards in the reblog chain so much as others who have chimed in with very nasty attacks), listen to actual Black East Asian people.
I’m staying out of commentary about Miyamoto other than to say I’m proud of her, even though I’m not into beauty pageants and don’t follow them. When she talks about her experience as a Japanese woman, I hope people will actively listen, instead of using her as a bargaining chip to prove that Japanese are incredibly racist or aren’t incredibly racist.
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